I love the multiple layering aspect of stories and how the digital layering of words, imagery, and sounds can add to the depth of storytelling . Today’s story spotlight is “I Can”, a video I made through poetic inspiration pondering resilience.

The visual vernacular can be drilled down into two forms of expression: Explicit and Implicit.

EXPLICIT imagery:
literal or direct images used to illustrate a story

Explicit imagery is useful for conveying the necessary details of your story or helping to set the scene for your audience. For example, as you tell a story about the family farm, you show a picture of a farm to directly transport the audience into the setting of the story

IMPLICIT imagery:
implied or indirect images used to illustrate a story

Implicit imagery is useful for implying or representing another meaning beyond explicit or literal meaning. For example, colorful autumn leaves used to illustrate vital aging.

Two techniques to convey meaning through implicit imagery are visual metaphor and juxtaposition.

VISUAL METAPHOR utilizes symbolic representation. For example, a picture of a flower growing out of a concrete sidewalk to illustrate overcoming a personal challenge. Audiences connect the emotional content of the struggling plant with the storytellers struggle.

JUXTAPOSITION utilizes image choice and sequential order. For example, consider the different meaning of a picture of a crouching tiger followed by a picture of a deer herd versus the crouching tiger followed by rifle scope. One combination illustrates a feeling of power while while the other evokes vulnerability. Audiences interpret the juxtaposition of visual images as having implicit meaning that goes beyond what each image explicitly means on its own.

Each story is unique, yet all stories can be boiled down into three distinct “acts”: beginning, middle, and end.

A story arc is a tool to help storytellers outline a good story into five key components:

Exposition

Rising action

Climax

Falling action

Resolution

Exposition

The exposition is where the story begins and sets the stage for the audience. The introduction should include a SETTING, both physical and emotional; it might also include a BACKSTORY.

Rising Action

The rising action is what begins to move the story in a forward direction. The inciting incident is the initial action that sets the story in motion. The rising action is generally characterized by conflicts and complications to drive the plot.

This rising action component may contain four separate elements:

the trigger – the event that sets the plot into motion

the quest – how the storyteller responds to the trigger

the surprise – any twist, turn, or unexpected event that arises

the critical choice – decisions made that lead to the climax of the story

Climax

The climax of the story is where the plot reaches its critical mass; it’s the tipping point where tensions or excitement are at their highest and the audience is most engaged by what’s happening.

The climax is the turning point of the story and provides a sense of change.

Falling Action

The falling action occurs on the other side of the climax. While the rising action helps build towards the climax, the falling action helps deescalate and ease readers into the conclusion of the story cymbalta cost.

Resolution

Last but not least, the resolution of the story is where the plot comes to an end.

The resolution is the final curtain call of the story and strives to leave a lasting impression.

Isn’t life ironic? I don’t know about you, but I witness this time and time again! Today’s STORY SPOTLIGHT is titled “The Bet“. It touched my heart (and funny bone) about how an adversary can also be an ally.

Ideas and inspiration for personal stories can come from many sources. Here is a small selection of common story themes. Yours need not fit into one or any of these categories.

REMEMBRANCE OR MEMORIAL STORIES
Stories that acknowledge, honor or reflect on the life of one who has died.

RELATIONSHIP STORIES
Stories of significant relationships in your life. Common subjects are immediate relations, including parents, grandparents, siblings, spouse or partner. Other meaningful relationships may include a business or creative partner, a teacher or mentor, childhood or lifelong friends, even pets. Who are these subjects and what impact have they made on your life? Consider including stories of love, admiration, longing or loss, disappointment or a poignant reflection of a person.

THE GENESIS STORY
Almost all people, groups or businesses can point to a significant moment or event in the past that was a determining factor in how things are today, e.g., “If my mother had not taken a ceramics class, she would not have met my father….” The genesis story is an essential part of almost all family histories, examining the question, “Where do we come from?”

STORIES OF CHALLENGE
Stories in which you have experienced challenge and how (or whether) you overcame it. They can be physical as well as mental challenges, i.e., the challenge of climbing a 15,000-foot mountain, conquering the fear of changing careers or returning to school after an extended absence.

OBJECTS AND ARTIFACTS
All of us have owned or known of a possession that held tremendous value in our lives and the compelling stories that accompany them our website. Objects or artifacts can be as varied as a lucky charm, a rock found on a memorable hike or a precious family heirloom handed down through many generations. What are these objects, how do they exist in your life and what value do you place on them?

HURT AND HEALING
Sadly, it is guaranteed that human beings will experience at least some element of emotional suffering. Stories about pain and the healing process are ultimately about resurrection and finding a way to continue. These types of stories can be about hurt and how that changed you.

STORIES ABOUT A PLACE
Stories about locations, specific or vast, capture memories. Geographical places hold intense memories and emotional significance in our lives. Whether you have a fond memory of spending childhood summers on a grandparent’s farm or the painful recollection of a war combat zone in a distant country, reconciling stories and emotions of these places is a useful exercise in understanding ourselves—we might refer to it as narrative
archaeology: What’s buried in this place?

ADVENTURE, JOURNEY OR TRAVEL
This theme is an abundant source of stories, for we have all had some sort of journey or travel experience that can be told as an adventure.

THE SHOE BOX OF STORIES
Countless stories can be found in the well-worn shoe box or photo album filled with our treasured photographs. Each photo preserves a moment in time and each moment has a corresponding story: “Where was I when this photo was taken? Who took it? Who is in the photo with me? What was I thinking when this was taken?”

Excerpt from KQED Digital Storytelling Manual Chapter 1 “Finding the Experience” . KQED is a public radio and television broadcasting organization in Northern California, which also provides digital storytelling training.

Stories move in circles. They don’t move in straight lines. So it helps if you listen in circles. There are stories inside stories and stories between stories, and finding your way through them is as easy and as hard as finding your way home. And part of the finding is getting lost. And when you’re lost, you start to look around and listen.”

–Corey Fischer, Albert Greenberg, and Naomi Newman
A Travelling Jewish Theatre from Coming from a Great Distance
Excerpted from Writing for Your Life by Deena Metzger